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PowerPoint Slideshow about 'Farms' - RexAlvis

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Read Pioneer Farm: Living on a Farm in the 1880’s by Megan O’Hara, and create a time line of chores/tasks accomplished in one day.

Read about a typical day on a modern farm and compare the work done to the work done on a pioneer farm. The class can make lists of tasks and compare these lists to determine what has changed and what has stayed the same.

Visit Carriage Hill Farm in Huber Heights or Johnston Farm in Piqua, and participate in activities such as hayrides, soapmaking, and candle making.

Read Farmers by William Russell, and make a chart of similarities and differences among different kinds of farmers.

Look at the cultural heritage of students in the class. Bring in foods produced on farms of those students’ cultures.

Talk about different groups organized by farmers such as granges, 4-H clubs, Future Farmers of America clubs, Farm Bureaus, etc. Write to these local groups for more information on how they are organized.

Label a map of the U.S. according to what kinds of farmers live in a region. For example, place a sticker or drawing of cranberries in Maine where farmers produce cranberries. A variety of sources can be used for this activity including Harvest Year by Cris Peterson.

After reading about farms, have students list items in their house that come from a farm, such as milk, popcorn, apples, and meat. Then discuss how a community is dependent upon local farms.

Read about problems farms face in the U.S. and other parts of the world and make lists to compare these problems. A variety of sources, including Farming Around the World by Louise and Richard Floethe may be used in this activity.

Read a description of a farm layout to students and, in groups, have them arrange cardboard buildings on a green poster board demonstrating the relative location of buildings on the farm. For example, the big red barn is next to the chicken coop. Then discuss each group’s representation of the farm.

Tour a local farm and have students create a map of the farm from their visit.

Create a large poster of the world. Give each student two continents. They have to find one food item or animal found on a farm for each of their continents, other than Antarctica. They will draw their item or animal on a sticky label and place it on the world map. Books that may be used include Farming Around the World by Louise and Richard Floethe and Uncommon Farm Animals by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Pass out Bingo cards with pictures of locations on a farm, such as stables, barn, well, chicken coop, pigsty, farm house, etc. Ask questions such as “Where is a good place to find horses?” Each student selects the appropriate location on their card and marks it with a chip. When someone yells “Bingo!” discuss the locations and why they were appropriate.

Give each student two items that they produce on their farm (e.g. corn and peas) and a list of two items they need. They must find the person in the room that has each item and barter for that item using the goods they produced on their farm.

Have students go through a “truck” that has just brought goods from a local farm. They must sort the goods and, using dye cuts, create a picture graph for each category of goods brought by the “truck.”

Cut out local grocery store adds to create a store display of farm goods. Have students create a list of items they want to purchase and pass out different amounts of money to each. Then let them see how many items on their list they can purchase.

Read From Grain to Bread by Ali Mitgutsch, Potatoes by Dorothy Turner, and Corn is Maize by Aliki. Then brainstorm all the possible byproducts of farm crops, and create collages of corn products, grain products, potato products, and any others the class can think of.

Read Chapter 4 of Corn: What It Is, What It Does by Cynthia Kellogg. Then discuss services a farmer needs from other people in the community in order to get his food to market. Have students assume each of the roles and walk corn kernels through the process of going to market.

In many of the farm books, students may read about 4-H club. Discuss how the leader of a 4-H club is like the town mayor or the state governor or even the President of the U.S. Ask students what roles other 4-H members represent. Have a local 4-H leader come in to explain about 4-H.

Read excerpts from books including The American Family Farm by Joan Anderson and George Ancona. Then put students into groups and give them a list of chores to do. Have students divide the list of chores among them “fairly.” Talk about why it is better to divide the work than to do it oneself.

Having visited and read about farms, have students create a list of rules that would be good for the farm. Then generate a class list of farm rules and discuss why each rule should be included.

Set up a sawhorse with a picture of a cow on it. Poke tiny holes in a surgical glove and fill the glove with milk. Attach it to the sawhorse and let the kids take turns “milking a cow.”

Have students design their own miniature farm somewhere on the school grounds. Then decide what “crops” will be planted. Choose a location in the community to which the crops will be donated when harvested.

Divide students into groups of four or five. Give each group a scenario and materials. For example, the barn was destroyed in a tornado; a new one must be built immediately. In their group, students have to use craft sticks, glue, paper, cardboard, etc. to build a new barn.

Place students in groups of four or five. Give them a task to be done in a certain amount of time. For example, they must shuck and shell 15 ears of corn in half an hour. Let each group decide how they will accomplish the task (i.e. each takes a stage in the process or each goes through the whole process on their own).

Have each student create a list of questions that they would like to find out during their visit to a local farm. Upon returning from the farm, have students determine if they had their questions answered and share answers with the class.

After visiting farms and reading about farms, have students brainstorm ways that farmers respond to the environment. For example, ask them to recall or think of ways farmers deal with floods, droughts, and pests.

Look at farm machinery books such as Farm by Ned Halley. Then have students create their own farm machinery from tissue boxes, cardboard, etc. and explain what their machine is used for.

Read books comparing old and new ways of farming, such as Century Farm by Cris Peterson. Then discuss how new ways have improved farming.

Brainstorm ways that computers can be used on farms. Then have a farmer talk to students about how he or she uses computers.

Discuss foods that we eat that may grow far away such as pineapples, bananas, coffee. Have the kids think of ways that it gets to them. Talk about how there are refrigerated trucks, vacuum packed products, etc. Then have the kids think of a new way to get food from one place to another. They should draw a picture showing their process.

The farm is a great topic for a thematic unit because it can be integrated across many content areas. It can easily incorporate health and science with the many plants and animals found on a farm. In addition, math can be weaved in with measurements, sorting, geometry, and story problems. The arts can be integrated with farm songs, art projects, and square dancing. Finally, language arts can be explored through the use of literature. There is an abundance of children’s books, videos, and songs about farms. Kids seem to naturally love this topic as well.